It was this firm commitment of his that made Mukesh such a favourite of Shankar Jaikishan….Shankar said that Mukesh alone cud give that special effect he needed in a theme-song like ”Dost dost na raha”….He further said that he certainly needed to work on Mukesh’s vocals, but the end effect wud be so telling that the listner came to discern there was a certain result that cud be got from Mukesh only.
It was Shankar who generally composed the title song or the theme song of a S-J film…..Therefore said Mukesh that he always made it a point to remain in Shankarji’s good books. From whom else cud he hope to get a ”Sajan re jhooth mat bolo”…..But does this mean Mukesh was any less keen when on the rare occasion, the title song done by Jaikishan….Not in the life….Take ”main aashiq hoon baharo ka”. this was done by Jaikishan. Do anybody find it less appealingly rendered by Mukesh for that reason?
Or take another ”bol radha bil sangam hoga ki nahin” . This was yet another title tune done by Jaikishan. And it was for a prestigious RK show like ‘Sangam’. Mukesh cud never think to differentiate with Shankar or Jaikishan. Shankar might have been his title-tune staple, his mainstay. Yet Mukesh kept his vibes going with Jaikishan too, for his tune he rendered in the beginning of their career, ”Awara hoon”. Mukesh humility excelled in dealing with other composers too. For example in other RK movie, RDB had to tune up on insistence of Raj Kapoor for Mukesh in Dharam Karam -”ek din bik jayega mati ke mol”…Dada Burman hardly took Mukesh, but when Kishore Kumar shied away to sing this song which was not on the lips of Dev Anand, the hero. Thus Mukesh came in with Dada’s warning that he wud cancel the number if he was not satisfied with the recording. This encouraged Mukesh to give the solo all he had….that is ”chal ri sajni ab kya soche” (Bambai ka babu)….still this falls most vibrantly on the ears….Why Mukesh was valid on Amitabh Bachchan in ”kabhi kabhi”-‘main pal do pal ka shayar hoon’–is the poetry of Sahir enriched by the compositional artistry of Khayyam and in ”kabhi kabhi mere dil main khayal aata hai”….this was his humility, which rendered ”sawan ka mahina pawan kare sor” in Milan on Sunil Dutt (Laxmi-Pyare), and in Saraswatichandra ”chandan sa badan chanchal chitvan” (Kalyananji Anandji) and many more to recount.
Gopalshroti 'Anurag's Weblog on S-J 